What is the difference between a sermon that is “text-centered” and one that is “text-driven”? Here is a chart I used at the Jacksonville Pastor’s Conference: Text-Centered Text-Driven Sermon from the text Sermon about the text and derived from it Se... Read More »

The preaching circus is ever in town; and, as part of the show, most everyone claims to be an expository (text-driven) preacher. However, actually, few are. This is an interesting development since it is a confession, of sorts, that text-driven preaching is th... Read More »

Recapturing the Voice of God by Steven W. Smith To observe what is counted as preaching in the modern day is one of the strangest journeys imaginable. In this thought-provoking volume, Steven Smith makes a claim in the title that, though stunning, should be ob... Read More »

Riding on the City of New Orleans, Illinois Central Monday morning rail Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders, Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail. All along the southbound odyssey The train pulls out at Kankakee Rolls along past houses, farms an... Read More »

What is expository, text-driven preaching? Exposition is the translation and communication of a biblical text. This definition shows the two parts of preaching. Many will read this definition and wonder if I am really implying that preachers should actually tr... Read More »

What can you expect if you preach the Bible? What will God do in your church and in the hearts of your people if you do anointed Bible teaching? There is a vast difference between well prepared and delivered Bible study and anointed Bible teaching. Excellent p... Read More »

John Stott, in his classic work Between Two Worlds, insightfully commented that the essential secret of preaching is not “mastering certain techniques, but being mastered by certain convictions.” The key theological principle underlying text-driven... Read More »

One of the first things that people who teach Sunday school or are in ministry   ask me when they find out I am a preaching professor is “Where can I find good illustrations?” This is the question of origination. But before giving good places to ... Read More »